The Legend of Winter
by Winter Strife
Summary: Winter was having a peaceful life with his girlfriend Lynn. At least until they got kidnaped
1. Chapter 1

The Legend of Winter

By

John Garrison

10 Years Ago:

"Nathan!

Nathan Strife!

The time has finally come!

The passage has finally been breached!

I will go ahead!"

I looked over the side of the boat as a large muscular man in a black jacket with gold trimming and a triangular hat walked across the dark blue stone of the water temple through an arch which lead down deep into the labyrinth we had been working on for the last 10 years, that may seem like a long time, but the treasure we were looking for could give you eternity.

The Dorvan Orb.

A tool made by the sages of the Lost World.

Or rather the world below us.

A long time ago the world wasn't like how it is now.

There were entire continents of dry land, at least two-thirds of the world was dry land.

However something bad happened, something very bad.

The Great Sages of the Lost World unraveled the laws of time and matter and bestowed powers into orbs, those orbs were able to defy certain laws of physics.

Thus the owners of these orbs had god like powers.

They used these orbs and modified themselves and their soldiers.

Those modified were granted elemental powers of chakra which let them control a certain type of element such as fire, water, or wind in my case.

The Great War of 4683 commenced when Rager William of the Rock Orb attacked Sariah Nihun of the wind Orb.

This engagement had lead to many more joining until the whole world was in chaos.

The world was on the verge of destruction from the raw power unleashed.

History is very unclear about what exactly happens next due to the destruction of records when the flooding happened, however there have been some theories as to how the world flooded leaving only lots of islands which were what had once been mountains.

One theory of which I believe, is that the Great Sages decided to stop the war by taking the most powerful of the water orbs, the Cleritan Orb, and combined it with a Multiplication Orb, the combination of orbs would cause both to release all the power stored in them at once breaking in the process, but the sheer volume of water that could be created flooded the world to how it is now.

However this has been doubted due to no records of fusing Orbs together has ever been found, along with the power required to overcome the binds of the orbs to allow for such an event would be astronomical.

The Sages then took all the orbs and using the orbs created labyrinths to keep the orbs from humanity so history would not repeat itself.

After doing these things they then disappeared from the world and were never heard of again.

I shake my head to clear my thoughts, plenty of time to think when we finish this.

I jump the three stories off the boat to the stone ground landing lightly using my wind chakra.

As I walk towards the arch which that man had previously walked through, I draw my dual carbon swords and rest them on my shoulders.

I think to myself that this is going to be a memorable day as I feel a massive tremor and hear the faint noise of a roar.

I smile and pick up my speed, can't let the captain have all the fun.

Chapter 1:

My name is Winter Strife; I am 14 and I live on Crylic Cove, a small island in the Northern Isles.

I may not be very bulky, but I am very strong for my size.

I am wearing my favorite dark blue surf shorts, and an emerald green swim shirt.

I have dark brown hair, with a silver stripe through the left side of my hair which I inherited from my father.

And I have dark green eyes that I inherited from my mother.

Not that I have gotten to know either of my parents, this is just what everyone that knew my parents say.

From what I was told as a child, my parents arrived on the island when I was a baby.

They bought a home where I am currently living.

They never told anyone about why they moved here, just that they were happy to be here.

Then two years later, during a shopping trip to Bralic, my parents, along with others, were attacked by pirates and no one on the boat were seen again.

Luckily Ben Styller, a jolly old guy, decided to take me in as his son and I lived with him until I was 12.

When I turned 12 the mayor of Crylic Cove decided I was old enough to have my parents' house to do whatever I wanted with it, whether I wanted to sell it or live in it.

I decided to move out of Ben's house when I was 13, and I will be forever thankful for all he has done for me.

I still hang out at his house when I have some free time.

He is also my boss; he owns the grocery store Styller Outlet.

My parents' house, well my house now, is two stories tall on the coast.

In the six years I have had it, I have cleared most of the rooms of the stuff that was in them before and replaced the stuff with things I use, like a metal and wood working area, a weightlifting room, and a library to study in.

The library was the only room I never touched, my parents love books and had many of them.

The majority of them were about boats, currents, the ocean, racing boats, and lots of marine biology books.

A couple of the rooms are just used for storage for wood, metal, or other materials or things I plan to make stuff with.

I had saved up the 2 years of my money to buy this white J15 racing boat. I may have tinkered with it on my free time.

Today was a warm windy day with a slight cloud cover.

In my boat I tighten the mainsheet and adjust the tiller slightly to the port to head upwind in a close reach.

The wind is tilting the ship off to the starboard so I put my feet into the hiking straps and I lean back over the port side of the boat.

I enjoy listening to the wind as I fly across the water in my boat.

I am heading to my favorite fishing spot at the base of the drop off on the northern part of the island where the orchards and fields are.

I bet the twins Ron and Katie are still working getting the last of the fruit off the trees before Autumn.

I approach the base of the cliff and it doesn't look like they are over on this side of the orchard.

I turn the tiller to the starboard to put me in Irons.

I lower my sail and I pull out my ol' hook line n' sinker and threaded some bait.

I cast the line and put the pole in a special slot in the side of the boat and I put a little bell on the end to let me know when something bites.

I slid down to the bottom of the boat and waited for the tinkling of the bell signaling a bite.

I tilt my head back and gaze up at the blue sky, I trace some of the clouds as they float by.

I sigh happily and close my eyes and soon fall asleep.

"Wake up sleepy head. I thought I might find you here."

Lynn is the most beautiful girl in the Northern Isles, but she doesn't believe it, and she doesn't like compliments, she says they aren't true.

She is 13 with long brown hair and sparkling blue eyes.

She has fair white skin and a cute little nose, she was wearing a navy blue one piece swimsuit.

"Am I getting that predictable?" I asked.

Lynn replied, "Well when you aren't hanging with me when I should be working, you are out sailing in your new boat you keep bragging about.

So I swam out to say hello when I got off work."

With a smile I say, "I noticed you swam, your wet and you're getting me wet too."

I pulled on the tiller bringing the boat out of Irons into a Close Reach tilting the boat sharply making Lynn fall off my boat back into the water.

I swing the boat around and stall it in Irons and she surfaces and starts laughing and splashing me.

So naturally I splash back.

A couple minutes later we are sitting in the boat smiling, laughing and soaked, well she was already soaked from swimming but now I am too. "You two done splashing in the water?

Katie and I could use some help getting the last of the fruit off the trees." Yelled Ron from the top of the ridge.

"Sorry we would love too, but we are busy today hanging!"

"Wait, but come help!"

Yelled Ron as I turn the tiller head down wind towards the dock.

"So, what have you been up to?

I have learned a couple cool new skills with my water chakra.

How's your training with your wind chakra coming?" Lynn asked.

(Chakra:

Chakra is a form of energy found is some people. It activates at age 16. Chakra courses through their veins and mainly is stored in their stomach. Chakra can be used by focusing it in a certain area of your body such as mouth, hands, and feet and then activating it. The chakra nature of the person defines the type of action the chakra will take when used, such as fire, water, metal, wind etc. It can be used from fighting to crafting to sensory type actions. When using your muscles, a bit of chakra is used to increase strength more than normal. Some natures increase strength, speed, or senses more.)

"Great" I replied. "Watch this."

I focused some of my chakra into my mouth and I blasted Lynn with a jet of air to dry her off, though it was only kind of helpful because she was leaning back over the edge of the boat, and it pushed her off the boat back into the water with a loud splash.

"Haha sorry!"

I performed a figure eight with the boat and drifted next to Lynn.

She swam over to the side of the boat and said, "Thanks, that was sooo helpful.

Now give me a hand getting back in the boat."

I got up and grabbed Lynn's hand and she ducked under water and pushed off against the side of my boat yanking me off the boat into the water with a splash.

I swim up to the surface and when I rub the water out of my eyes and I start treading water, Lynn swims up next to me and said with a smile, "Now we're even."

Lynn and I were hiking off on the same side of the boat to keep it from tipping as we sailed the deep blue ocean from my fishing spot back around the curve past Listol beach over to the Quartermaster dock.

The dock is a super light gray plastic alternated with metal grating with air bags underneath each section to keep it floating.

It has a giant area for the big shipping containers and smaller docks for smaller boats like my own.

As we neared the large assortment of docks and boats we lowered the sails and wrapped them up.

I pulled out a large paddle and I used the to move us forward as we moved to the docks and then as we moved around while inside the docks.

I paddled while Lynn steered us using the rudder.

We worked our way through the passages until we got to my slot.

There were two large straps under water under my slot, when we drifted into the slot and we hopped out of the boat, I went over to the lever at the front of the slot and started cranking it.

The straps were attached to a pulley which the crank pulled up.

After a couple minutes I had the boat suspended above the water and secured with ropes.

I wiped my hands together and looked at Lynn.

"Well that's taken care of."

"Yep, now lets head up to town, but first."

Lynn grabbed some shorts and a shirt she had in a cubby right next to my slot where I kept my stuff when I sailed.

She quickly put them over her swimsuit, and looked up at me.

"Okay, now I'm ready."

The path from the docks to town is concrete and about 10 feet wide for the big shipments that come in every once in awhile, that supply us with everything we can't supply ourselves.

On the sides of the path are rows of trees that provide shade in the summer when the leaves are in fully such as now.

At the base of the trees are colorful wild flowers and dark green grass.

We walked up and took a right at the school and then a left at the coffee shop and we sat down together on the chair I made with Derek the carpenter.

It was made of oak and it was well done if I may say so.

The town on Crylic Cove was a decent size.

In town there is a central circle with a water fountain and the paths around it are all cobblestoned.

There are a couple cherry trees around the town that all the songbirds love.

The blacksmith shop The Anvil is to my right with the crafting area in the back covered in a heavy canvas so you can barely hear the pounding of metal.

To its left was the ice cream store called Flash Frozen and The Herbalist was just beyond it.

The coffee shop called Mama's Cafe and the laundry area Soap Bubbles are behind me, and the carpentry shop called Fine works was directly to my left and the grocery shop Styller Outlet I worked at was left of the carpenter's shop.

If you take a left at the laundry and walk down the cobblestone path is the Billowing Sails restaurant where Lynn works as a waiter.

Sitting here I can hear the water running from the fountain with a couple song birds singing in the cherry trees around the fountain.

I can also slightly hear the pounding of metal in the blacksmith area where Brom our friend works.

"How about we get some ice cream at Flash Frozen, then we go and hang out at Cliffpoint?"

"Great idea," I answered with a smile.

We got up and headed over to the ice cream store.

The outside was painted dark blue and the inside was a light blue.

The bar with all the ice-cream was behind a curved glass covering to the right of the entrance with some purple chairs positioned around a cool blue stone table to the left.

Malisa was the owner of Flash Frozen and she was an older lady with gray hair and dark blue eyes.

She would wear blue or green dresses always.

She had ice natured chakra so to make her ice cream she would mix the ingredients in a metal bowl and would run her hand along the side with chakra freezing it instantly, thus the name of the store, Flash Frozen.

As we walked through the glass door into the store Malisa looked up from the bowl of blackberry ice cream she had just frozen and she smiled at us and said, "Well if it isn't Winter and Lynn.

What can I do for you two?"

Lynn and I walk up to the glass bar and take a look at all the different types of ice cream Malisa had made.

Malisa loved to craft new and interesting types of ice cream from all sorts of things, from coffee to liquorish to cotton candy and even fish (not one of her more popular flavors).

Today she had some regular stuff like chocolate, vanilla, blackberry, apple, and her specialty bubbly lemon lime.

She would carbonate the lemon lime ice cream ingredients when a liquid, and when flash frozen it would keep the fizziness.

"I would like to get the bubbly lemon lime ice cream please" I say.

"Make that two please." Lynn said.

Malisa grabbed two ice cream cones and scooped some of the ice cream into them, and then she handed them to us.

"Here you go, that will be 8 vics." Malisa said.

I put the small blue glass orbs on the counter. "Thank you." We call out as we turn around and leave.

We start our way up the path to Cliffpoint' from the side of town.

The path we were walking through was paved and the sides were covered with grass, trees, and some bushes covered in berries.

I could hear the tweeting of songbirds off in the distance, and I could see some seagulls flying overhead.

It was about 4 o'clock I am guessing by the way the sun is in the sky.

We had finished eating our ice cream and the cones so I plucked some berries off the bushes and I would throw them in the air and tried to catch them with my mouth.

"Show off" Lynn said as I through four up into the air and caught them all. "You know it, so how was your day working as a waiter?"

I asked Lynn. "Great, today was really busy and really easy.

No kids were throwing their food at me or anyone else or object, no one got an allergic reaction, and I didn't get yelled at for talking with you instead of working.

How was your day working with that comedian Ben, new work motives, outfit, etc.?"

"Not today but that just means he is scheming." I reply.

"You're so suspicious, I am sure he is giving you a break after what happened last time." Lynn said.

"Do you have to bring that up?

I was hoping you had forgot about that." I say.

"How could I forget something like that, when you…..." I had put my hand over her mouth and I was looking around checking if anybody had overheard.

"How about we don't bring that up… So what do you think the others are doing right now?"

I asked as I took my hand off her mouth.

"Well, Ron and Katie are done working so they are probably fishing at docks or looking for us or hanging with Brom.

Brom is probably hanging with them or doing over time at the blacksmith shop." Lynn said smartly.

"Do you have everyone's schedule memorized?

Because that is strange." "No, you just don't pay much attention to anything unless it's me, your boat, or sleeping." Lynn said.

"How do you know me so well?" I asked.

At this time, we had walked up the steep path up to Cliffpoint, we walked out of the path and it opened up to a grassy field dotted with fruit trees and a drop off that looked out across the ocean right where the sun sets makes a great place to relax.

Near the cliff was a big tree and Lynn and I walked over and I sat down and leaned against the tree looking out across the ocean and Lynn sat next to me.

"Yawn… it's really nice here, I think I'm going to take a nap." Lynn said as she stretched a bit then relaxed against the tree and closed her eyes.

"But it's only 4:30"

"Shhhh, nap time"

"Haha okay, night"

I relax a bit and think back to sailing earlier, I look up at the clear blue sky and watch the clouds float by, I close my eyes and slowly drift off to sleep…

"Wake up!" Katie yelled.

I woke up and reflexively brought my head straight up and bashed my head against the trunk of the tree.

Lynn just looked up at Katie and said "yes?"

Ron and Brom walked up and stood beside Katie who folded her arms and looked at us smiling.

Katie is 5 foot 8 inches with white sun bleached hair.

She seems to always be in a good mood, smiling and laughing a lot.

She has the light bronze colored skin that you get only from many hours in the sun.

Even though she works picking fruit and working in the orchards she always has had a thin build.

Ron has the same bronze skin from working with his sister, but he has ginger colored hair.

Ron unlike his sister, he had bulked up from working, he is also an inch taller, many an argument has come up and that inch was played like a trump card.

Brom is 5 foot 11 inches and is bigger and more muscularly built, he also has dark brown hair he keeps pretty short so it doesn't get burned in the metal working shop.

Katie has nature chakra so she is able to make plants grow and control them.

Ron has fire chakra so he can control fire.

Brom has earth chakra chakra, so he is insanely strong and can sculpt the ground by touching it.

Sadly though we have basically no training for our chakra because there are no teachers here.

The only training we have is what we figure out or what someone can tell us, so not much.

Ron said, "We had a feeling you two would be up here snoozing so we came to say 'hi'."

"Thanks so much, I just needed to hit my head on a tree."

"Your welcome" Katie said giggling.

Lynn and I stood up and I asked them, "So you found us and woke us up now what do you want to do?"

"I know, how about we head over and get ice cream at Flash Frozen." Katie said.

"We already did that."

Lynn replied. "We can head down to the Billowing Sails and get dinner, I am getting a bit hungry"

"We second that!" Ron and Brom proclaimed.

Lynn looked at Katie and said, "boys, they are always hungry, right?"

"Hahaha I know enough from this boy here," Lynn motioned at me after we had stood up.

"Great," I said as I rolled my eyes.

"Well let's get going guys." Katie said as she turned and started walking away and waving her arms forward summoning us.

We get to town and we are all laughing because Ron and Brom had decided to see who would be able to eat the most watermelon and were describing all of the advantages that they had that would let them win, such as Brom saying, "I'm bigger so my stomach is bigger, meaning I can eat more." Ron countered with, "Eating is not a physical competition, but a mental one. I must only believe I will beat you to be able to win."

"Yeah right, you can't even eat a half watermelon by yourself, I watched you try and fail last summer."

That didn't count! I had eaten just before hand, and anyway that was last year and I will win this year!"

"Keep telling yourself that, it might come true if both Winter and I don't compete." Said Brom.

I think you get the point, it was hilarious.

The Billowing Sails is an older restaurant with dim orange-red lights and soft brown leather seats.

A bar on the left hand was where you would order then you would take your seat at any of the couch-tables to the right.

We get into line and we order our food then we all sat together in the couch-table in the far left corner of the room.

Lynn and I sit next to each other and Brom sits in between Katie and Ron. After eating we say our goodbyes and I walk Lynn to her house before heading to my house.

The next morning I walk into the store to start setting it up.

I open the blinds, I cleaned the floor, I stack fruit, I place the wares in correct places, and I flip the CLOSED sign to OPEN.

At that moment Ben rushes through the door with a multicolored bundle of clothes in his arms and a giant grin on his face.

I sigh and say, "new work uniform?"

"You got it" Ben said with a wink.

Let's get customers here and make them laugh, but not like last time so you can relax.

Ben is an older gentleman with a sense of humor as big as his round belly (Probably because he keeps eating the food he should be selling).

He has short red hair and big laugh lines with dimples.

"Try it on" he said. "Fine, let's get this over with."

I replied with a half-smile. It was ridiculous, it was like a clown's costume with lots of different colors spread around at random.

All I am missing is the face paint and a big red nose.

"This will definitely make the customers laugh."

Ben says in between burst of laughter.

About at this moment Lynn walks in.

Starts giggling and covers her mouth, when she finally stops giggling like a little girl.

(Some time later if I may add.) She said, "What in the world are you wearing?! You look so silly!"

"Thanks, you look nice too, so what can I get for you?" I asked. "Tess my boss wants some supplies for her restaurant the Billowing Sails, here is the list."

Lynn hands me the list.

I read the list, pretty common stuff like eggs, flour, sugar, apples, oranges, etc. "We don't have any apples, go ask Ron and Katie for some." I said. "Thanks, bye," she calls out as she walks out the door smiling.

The rest of the hours of work was the same.

People came in, laughed, bought stuff, and left.

"We are shutting down now, do I have to keep wearing this ridiculous outfit tomorrow?" I ask.

"No, today was plenty worth the 4 bucks I spent on that outfit, I will give you a bonus this week for doing this." Ben said.

"Thanks," I say as we walk out and I lock the door.

The others are off work I think, they are probably at the Billowing Sail waiting for me.

The path from the store to the restaurant is straight down the center of town and a right and the blacksmith were Brom works, and then a left at the school.

I walk to the Billowing Sails and Lynn, Ron, Katie, and Brom were is sitting in a table off to the right in a corner.

"We were starting to think you might never show up, too many people laugh at you because of you costume?"

Lynn said with a smile. "What costume?" Ron asked.

"Ben was messing around again and gave me this multicolored puffy outfit." I said. I sat down at the table and looked at the menu. Ron summoned a fireball in his right hand and left hand and said, "watch this new trick I discovered." He proceeded to make a deer in his left hand then a wolf in his right hand. He then started having the wolf chase the deer all around the table and in the air.

"Wow!" Brom said, "when did you learn to control two different bodies of fire at the same time?"

"Well" Ron said, "I was messing with two action figures yesterday and I thought, why not try this with fire? And it worked!

As long as I think of it as one connected image I can do it well, but I still can't just make multiple random shapes and manipulate them."

"It's a start at least" I said.

The waiter came by with our food and we all got to work eating, with a bit of competition between Brom and Ron on how many glasses of frozen lemonade they could drink, which Brom won with ease and left Ron yelling cheater.

After we finish eating and we said goodbye for the night, Lynn and I start walking to her house through the wooded area left of town by the beach.

As we are walking past the beach on the trail, we saw a massive galley ship by the shore.

It was the size of a massive cargo ships. We stopped to look at it.

"Lynn, look at that galley boat, it looks like trouble."

"Do think they could be pirates?"

"I don't know, but look at all those cannons and that ramming bow.

This is definitely a combat ship."

We get to her house and the door is smashed to splinters. "My house!"

"We need to head to town and warn everyone. How did a pirate ship that size get past the Marines?" I said.

"We can worry about that later," Lynn said. Pirates were common in the Northern Isles, but never has there been more than a little skirmish here that our navy handled.

We turn around and just as we start running I hear I tiny hiss sound and a little metal dart hits Lynn in the neck and she immediately collapses unconscious.

I reflexively burn my wind chakra, my wind chakra when burned releases energy into my brain and muscles, speeding me up and letting my brain process the information.

In my chakra enhanced state I observe a dart in the air coming at me from the direction of the hedge and woods.

I side step the dart and in the same motion bring my right hand back and try to draw chakra into my hand, however I can't always even transfer chakra when I'm nervous. Sadly this turned out to be one of those times.

When chakra is being converted to its elemental form for whatever reason.

A couple things must happen, first the chakra must be transferred to the surface of your skin.

Second, you add your Will to it. Your Will decides what it does, what shape it takes and other attributes.

After your Will is put into it, the chakra comes through your skin, and like a program follows your Will.

This happens so fast you can hardly tell it even happened.

I stare at my hand and try to transfer the chakra to my hand but nothing is happening, then before I can do anything else I feel a sharp sting in my back and then all I see is blackness…..


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

I wake up with a pounding headache and I struggle to sit up. I look around and it looks like I am in a metal cage, and I can tell I am on a boat because of the rocking of the floor, then everything that had happened comes back to me. "Lynn!" I yell as I stand up.

I look around and I can't see her.

The cage is just tall enough for me to stand up in with metal bars every 3 inches and is about 7 feet wide.

I kneel down beside the gate of the cage and examine the lock.

"Dang it, I can't do anything!"

I rattle the door a couple times and then I sit down with a sigh.

A couple big burly guys with matching outfits and scruffy beards and hair walked through the door.

Each had a nasty looking cutlass in their sashes on their side.

They came to the cages and pulled out some keys and unlocked the doors, and one said in a gruff voice, "come, the captain wants to see you."

After they let me out of the cage some of the pirates put their hands on my shoulder to prevent me from running or anything else.

I was pushed out the door and there was a long staircase that lead up at the end of the hallway.

The floor was a hardwood of some type, there were light fixtures hanging from the ceiling giving off a dull yellow light.

Doors were located in rows in the hallway, we were coming from the room at the very back of the hallway.

I can just imagine what was behind the doors.

We were pushed up the stairs, at the top of this flight of stairs was a hallway that went off to the left and the right.

The pattern of the hallways and stairs appeared to be, if you traveled left or right it would lead you to a staircase, but if you tracked straight it would bring you to another hallway.

Some rooms we saw were very large filled with more pirates, surprisingly not all the pirates were rough looking guys.

Some of the pirates were wearing these large grey outfits with large belts filled with tools, these appeared to be carpenters and other maintenance workers.

This galley of a war boat was massive, it appeared to be 2 miles long, over 10 stories tall and easily a quarter mile wide.

When I sensed we were getting near the top of the boat we had been walking in silence for at least 20 minutes.

All of a sudden there was small tremor in the boat, the pirates stopped us and started looking at each other muttering amongst themselves.

After a little bit one of the said, "come on." And we proceeded walking.

We reached the top and came out through some double doors onto the base of the deck of the boat.

When we had seen this boat from by Lynn's house we had seen it was big, but being up close and seeing the massive structure is another story.

It was awe inspiring, the boat had three main masts easily 10 feet wide along with many smaller masts and a large double jib spanning from the top of the mast to the very front of the bow mast.

The entire floor was covered in a mass of sailors working to trim the sails.

There were a bunch of enormous wheels with pulleys that had the lines from the sails leading to them for trimming.

We were at the very back of the boat, the pirates forced us to these stairs that lead up another floor on the deck of the boat.

We passed the control center for steering the boat, it had an expansive covering.

Inside the covering were a bunch of workers looking at weird instruments and maps.

At the front of the covering was a small staircase with an exceptionally large man at the front.

He was holding onto the large circular rudder staring intently out across the boat to the water.

Past the covering and rudder was a section of the boat that came up with a massive double door that curved at the top making the whole double door look like a half circle.

The door was inlaid was bronze stripes and knobs, it looked very durable.

Two pirates walked ahead of us and opened up the doors through which we walked in.

The room we entered was lit also with those dull yellow lights, there was a large draft table with a map pinned to it to our left.

An imposing man was sitting at a chair holding a pen marking on the map.

The map was covered in strange markings and had strings and other measuring tools on it.

As we walked in, he looked up at us, set down his pen, and stood up.

He was roughly handsome with a strong jaw, bushy eyebrows, and well kept peppered grey hair under a triangular captain's hat.

He wore deep grey long pants, large black boots that were folded at the top, a white shirt, and a very large black jacket with gold trimming resting on his shoulders.

"Welcome Winter Strife," a deep base voice sounded from the man as he looked down upon us.

He was at least 6 foot 5.

He was well matched to the mighty ship under his command I thought.

The man turned to the table and grabbed a silver flask that was on it.

"Now I am sure you have a couple questions for me, where are you?

Why are you here?

How long were you asleep?

These will all be answered in a bit."

He pulled the cap off of the flask and took a couple swigs before setting it down and looking back at us.

"Men, grab them some chairs."

The pirates quickly complied and grabbed a chair from the side room, and brought one to me.

He waved his hand at the chairs and said, "take a seat."

I sat down and he continued speaking.

"Now, as for where you are, you are on my ship Leviathan.

What I want from you is simple, but the reason why I want you here starts with your father.

He was the first mate on my ship.

His strength was second to none but mine.

He was with me from almost the beginning of our journeys.

After falling in love with a girl, your mother, I should have known he was getting tired of the pirate business.

We had conquered one of the mighty sea temples and taken its treasure, The Great Dorvan Orb.

The Great Dorvan Orb was last held by the late Princess Silia of the water tribes before they sank.

We had spent 10 years working together to find all the rumors of the Legend of the Dorvan Orb, sort truth from fiction, find the sunken temple, get the necessary water chakra bubble workers to get us down there, and the help of many others to disarm the traps, and finally fight the sea demon at the bottom.

After we defeated the demon in a battle which shook the oceans, we collected the gold, treasures, and finally the Dorvan Orb.

The Dorvan Orb was crafted by the Great Sages during the time before our world was so fully covered in water.

It has the power to stop the aging process, it does not give full immortality, but stops times cruel fate of aging.

That night after our victory, your father stole the Orb and some of the other treasures, sank all the small transport boats, but the boat he took to our ship, he then sabotaged the Leviathan, almost sinking it before disappearing with his wife.

Now what I want from you is to lure your father out of hiding so I can capture him and get the Orb back.

So now you have heard what has happened, I'm not the bad guy, I'm sorry about how I had to grab you.

Your island and all the people on it are safe.

When I capture your father I will drop you back off on your little island, and you can forget this happened.

Don't do anything stupid and we can get this over quickly and easily.

He turned back to his map and waved his hand towards the pirates casually and said, "go take him to a room and guard it."

The pirates started pulling me out the door, across the deck, and back into the belly of the ship.

I was shocked, I couldn't tell if he was telling the truth, but he had no reason to lie,

was my father a pirate?

Did this really happen?

Why did he leave?

Where is my mother?

I had been staring at the ground as we were walking, but now I looked up at where we were going.

We had just gotten off the deck and were walking down the stairs again and passing other crew members, they were all staring at me.

As we walked through a large room full of weapons and boxes that I am sure had gun powder in it, I saw a little boy sitting by himself on a bench looking at the ceiling.

I slowed down a little bit to see what he was looking at, but the pirates pushed me forward.

We continued walking for a bit more when they stopped at this door that was a bit darker than the others.

They opened the door, shoved me in, then locked it somehow from the outside.

I turn around and try the door handle in vain.

"Definitely locked."

I turn and look around the room, it was a windowless room with those same dull yellow lights on the wooden walls.

The floor was carpeted with a rough red carpet that looked pretty new.

There was a wooden bed by the right wall with a simple mattress, blanket, and pillow on it.

There was another door which was open, and I could see a bathroom through it.

On the left wall was a row of shelfs with very old looking books on them.

I walked over and took a look at the books.

What I had thought were books, were actually journals.

I pick one up and I walk over and sit on the bed lean back against the wall.

I look at the cover of the giant journal, it was old with a red leather covering that was very aged.

I open the book up and the pages were yellowed from time, the first page had one sentence on it.

"That this may show the horror of war, that we may not repeat it."

I flipped the page and began to read.

June 5th, 4683. This was the day that I was drafted and was brought to the training facility.

I was drafted, but I would call it a kidnapping.

They brought their massive air ship to my city, they rounded up all the men of ages 18 to 24, threw us on the ship and took off to the next city.

I was on the airship for 5 days before we arrived at whatever our destination was.

The airship landed in this incredibly large hangar and we all get off the plane.

This man in a light green starched uniform with many colorful medals on his chest approached us.

We were standing in a big group looking around wondering what was going to happen to us.

"Welcome, to the army of Ms. Clancy of the Wind Orb!

You have been chosen to fight, to win honor, and to lead in the fight to end this war!"

This loud crisp voice rang out from around the room from hidden speakers and was heard by everyone.

We all turned and our voices quieted.

"You will be evaluated for your skills and out into divisions which will suit you best!"

At this time groups of other soldiers in the same type of green uniforms came out and started breaking us into groups and bringing us to different places.

I was broken into a group with 20 others, we were lead to this side room.

There were simple beds with a headset next to each bed on a table.

We all went to a bed and sat down on it.

I looked at the headset, it was a virtual reality machine.

So that's how they test us I thought.

One of the uniformed military guys went to the front of the room we were in and took a small black square from his pocket, a hologram projector, and set it on the table at the front of the class room.

From the square a light came out above it in a muddled multi colored shape, then it suddenly sharpened into a clear image.

The hologram was of another military man, however this man was different.

He was an older white haired man with his uniform's chest heavily laden with brilliant shining medals.

This man was the general of Ms. Clancy's army, general Windego Drilan.

The hologram started speaking, "Soldiers, that's what you are.

You are now soldiers that serve Ms. Clancy.

We shall now see of what use you shall be to us.

You will take a specially designed placement test, put the headset on, lay down and we shall get started."

We each grabbed the headset and set it on our head and payed down. I stared at the white ceiling wondering what this would be about.

"Commence sequence."

And my vision went black.

Then I had a slight sense of vertigo which quickly went away.

I was standing in a massive white room. Everything was white with black line boxes making it look like a checkered board.

All around me were hundreds of other guys looking around like me in the exact same outfit.

We were wearing a mottled grey combat outfit that you would see those military guys in the movies wear.

We also had a pistol in a holistic on our right side and a long curved knife in a clever sheath that also acted as a piece of shoulder armor on our right shoulder.

The hilt was pointed down so you could reach up to your shoulder, grab the blade, and unsheathed it as you strike.

We also had to frag grenades.

This was just like the war games they developed that we played.

Virtual was developed a long time ago and has been perfected so that you can't even tell your in a game.

Video games went from consoles where you hold a controller to full dive games where the virtual reality device intercepts the signals your brain sends to your body and translates those to the character your playing as.

Schools even started using virtual reality.

Everyone here is an experienced virtual reality user.

All virtual reality has pain blockers so you never feel pain, so war games were a favorite of a lot of guys and some girls.

The giant room was a rectangle and we were by the short side it.

A large hologram came down from the roof, it was general Windego.

He started talking, "You have all been equipped with the standard infantry uniform, a side arm, a combat knife, and 2 frag grenades.

Not only that, but since those of you who excel will be granted Wind chakra, we have granted as close as possible type for use in testing so that you are able to become used to it.

If you bring your left arm up and look at it, your health bar will display on the underside of your forearm to show how much health you have left.

Now many of you will be familiar with this game, you will be playing capture the flag with another group of cadets like you.

There will be 3 games today, we will change the terrain and type of vehicles used in each, everything is an exact replica of the real weapons and vehicles you may be using.

We have a team of monitors, they will be observing your performance.

Every time you die you will respawn at the back of your base."

General Windego help his right hand up, a flag on a pole appeared at his right hand, the flag had a star on it.

The flag was black and the star was a brilliant white.

"This is your flag, you want to protect it."

The flag then changed to a white flag with a black star on it.

"This is the opposing teams flag, you want to capture it and bring it to your flag.

First team to do so wins.

For those of you not familiar with any vehicle, they all have tutorials on how to use them.

The game will begin shortly, terrain will spawn soon, and you will be brought to your base."

A bright light flashed and we were suddenly in a building with grey walls.

There were only 10 people with me so we must have been split up through out the base.

I walked over to the window, a large slit in the wall and looked out over the area, it was a rural area.

There were lots of abandoned buildings, most a story tall up to 3 stories, but a couple went to 8 stories tall, obviously where a sniper would go, and in the Middle was a massive 13 story building 5 times wider than all of the other buildings.

The most obvious thing that popped out were 2 beams of light, one in front of me not too far away.

The other was very far away and was hard to see from the glare of the sun.

The other guys who had been in the room had run off, most likely in search of the flag, that faint light most likely shows where it is while the close by light shows where our flag is.

I made a fist with my right hand, and I closed my eyes and focused.

I opened my eyes and opened my hand.

Resting in my palm was a spinning ball of air.

I heaved a sigh of relief, so the wind powers is like the magic of other games.

But for some reason my stomach felt weird, like something was burning in it.

I turned to start running out to the field when I realized something was very wrong, it was a bit harder to move and I started gliding a little bit when I moved.

I stopped using the Wind Orb power and everything went back to normal.

"What in the world?" I thought.

I ran out through the hallway and took a couple different paths hoping that the path I was running would bring me where I wanted.

I found stairs that lead down and finally I was out side.

Up ahead was a raised platform with walls all around it and the beam of light was being emitted from there.

I looked up at the top of the base behind me and I could see there appeared to be a hangar with some planes and helicopters and other aircraft.

Just then I saw a small plane take off, then it sped up and then did a loop in the air and seemed to lose control and crashed into a building on the ground with a loud bang.

I sighed, what an idiot.

To my right were some tanks and other types of land assault vehicles.

5 separate tanks were moving around, each trying to figure how to get them working, some tanks that were already heading off just have someone who knew what to do.

I looked around for a weapons locker, and soon I found one back inside the base.

It had a couple different weapons, I took a semi automatic MK11 with a coyote sight.

Strapped it to my back and started running back to the front of the base where all the vehicles were.

Just then I saw a jet coming from the enemy, the map was big, but not that big.

It headed up into the air, then it started coming down and strafing the tanks.

I saw some of the guys that were on the tanks get hit and dissolved into dust.

That means they died and re spawned.

The tanks tried to fire back, but couldn't hit the plane.

Then the plane that ha been terrorizing the tanks spun around towards where the light was shining showing our flag.

Finally one of our planes got off the ground and shot down the other plane.

I stopped staring and started running of to where the land vehicles were.

I got to where some quad bikes are, some were gone already, and were respawning.

I hopped on the quad, started it up, and started driving through the wide streets.

Our team and the enemy had gotten their planes under control and there was a large aerial battle going on over head.

Planes would occasionally try bombing the tanks and the base, but it didn't look very effective.

On the quad I weaved my way around the streets, I could tell where my team and the enemy had encountered each other due to machine gun and cannon fire.

There are buildings on either side of me with cars and lots of debris all over the road.

I avoided those areas as I sped around, I hear a loud THUKTKTKTKT of a machine gun fire off to my right and hear bullies whizzing past.

There are buildings on either side of me with cars and lots of debris all over the road I try and get around.

I feel an impact in the quad and I hear some screeching, when all of a sudden the quad swerves right and throws me.

I tumble through the air and crash into the ground and I kept rolling.

Luckily I rolled behind a flipped over car.

I quickly bring my arm up to check my health, I had lost some health from getting launched, but luckily I wasn't hit.

A guy had been waiting and he had hit the right wheel.

I take my MK11 off my back and I lean against the flipped car for a second before jumping over the car.

There was a man in a dark green outfit similar to mine slowly creeping towards the car with a heavy machine gun when I jumped over the car.

While I was still in the air before I hit the ground I had lined up my shot and hit him in the head dissolving him instantly.

The man's magazines, grenades, gun, and other weapons and tools fell to the ground.

I landed on my feet and took off running again using the giant shinning light as my guide.

I try using the Wind power again to see if it could help me go faster, so I launched my self forward with a burst of wind with each step and got myself going pretty fast.

BOOM!

RATATATATA

I stop my self in my tracks and move to some cover by the side.

BOOM!

RATATATATA

I realize that I'm not being shot at, so I run into a nearby building and run up to the roof and looked out over where I had heard the shots.

On the roof I see that there was an intersection near by and in the intersection some tanks and troops were battling it out.

The enemy base was close by, it seems the enemy has been wining the aerial battle so most of the fighting was over by our base, but we are advancing on the ground.

Tapping my wrist to check my health, I see my health has completely recovered.

Hopping off the building I was on and cross left to get around behind the enemy forces opposing us.

I strap the MK11 back on my back and draw my hand gun, a semi automatic pistol, I eject the ammo clip to check the rounds, 15 shots.

I put the clip back in and keep moving.

Based on the cannon firing and the rattling of machine guns I can tell I am closer, I need to be wary of other soldiers crossing around too.

I finally passed around behind the enemy and I get on top of a building and I start building hoping.

I am about to put my pistol away and draw the MK11 when a soldier in green boosts up up to the building in front of me facing the other direction.

I catch my breath and put two rounds in his back dissolving him, then I quickly switch weapons and hopped two more buildings before laying out flat on top of the roof and using a ledge on the roof to stabilize the gun as I looked down the sight.

The enemy had 2 green tanks angled towards my team firing, they had some units in green sniping beside the tanks.

Looking down the sights there are 4 units I can see, two are sitting with their backs to a wall, one is looking down his sights, and one is reloading.

My first target was the one looking down his sights first and he dissolves, once he was gone the other three dive for cover.

I get up and start running again as fast as I can across the roof tops.

I cross the street and run across those roof tops and I get to where the tanks are and I look across the street down the sites.

Of the three, two were in the building below me, but one was on the other side.

When he poked his head to see if it was clear I hit him and he dissolved.

I switched to my pistol and went into the building through the top.

I slowly creep down the stairs and I see the two guys by the door looking out with their guns up.

Thththththt I unloaded my pistol taking them both out.

I dropped the clip and put a spare in, there were three in the suit.

I hurry down the stairs grab a mag from the floor and I go out side.

The two tanks were right in front of me, but they didn't notice me.

I crawled up onto the closest tank and shot the machine gunner.

The machine gunner on the other tank notices me so I shoot him before he can turn the makes a move.

I then open the top hatch and drop inside and see a startled driver and gunner turn and look at me.

I proceeded to knife them both before they could draw any of their weapons.

I take control of the tank and turn the turret towards the other tank, the other tank notices, I see them open the hatch and scramble to get out, they didn't make it.

I press the fire button.

BOOM

There was a large hole in the side of the turret head, and fire spewing out of the hole.

I go to where the fuel tank was located inside the tank, dropped a frag grenade next to it, and hopped out the the tank and started heading off when the tank blew up.

After taking out this group I headed back towards the bright light.

I ran as hard as I could staying on the side streets, I ran into two more guys.

The first crossed a road in front of me and shot him before he knew I was there.

The second guy ran into me in an intersection, we both went flying and while in the air I dropped my pistol, grabbed the guy with my right hand, grabbed my knife with my left hand and slit his throat and he dissolved.

I went back and grabbed my pistol and continued on my way.

I finally got to the enemy base after five more minutes of sprinting.

When I turned a corner and saw the dark blue building and saw the giant glowing beacon, I hid in the last building before the base and observed the base looking for any snipers or enemies.

I saw a group of green clad soldiers leave the base with an assortment of weapons and headed for a tank.

After they left I checked again and I didn't see any so I sprint as fast as I can for the raised platform, ran up the stairs and in the center was the white flag with the black star on a pole of iron.

I grab the flag and the giant beacon turns a dark red and an alarm starts blaring.

Oh no I thought.

I started running as fast as I could then using the Wind powers to help me go faster.

I started running from the raised platform to the land vehicles.

The soldiers that had just re-spawned and those that were at the base started flooding out.

I hopped on another quad putting the flag on the back, I turned the ignition, hit the accelerator and I sped away leaving skid marks in my wake.

A couple snipers try and take a shot at me, but only a couple come near.

KCHUNK!

A massive hole was blown into the ground just behind the quad spraying asphalt everywhere.

I glance back to see a tank barreling forwards, turret aimed towards me.

I swerve and drift around a corner just in the nick of time as another shell had just barely missed me and once again blew asphalt everywhere.

I wasn't out of trouble yet, as I rounded the corner I drove right into the middle of a squad of guys resting on some make shift seats in the middle of the road with their guns set up next to them.

They notice me and a look of horror and shock crosses their face as I come barreling through.

"Get out of the way!" I hear from them.

I try and get around them, but I hit two guys as they attempted to grab their guns and leave their seats.

They dissolve, but their scrap metal seats don't, and as the quad hits them they launch the quad up and spins it over crashing into the ground.

I dove off the side just before hitting the two guys and I roll across the ground.

When my rolling slows I pull my hand gun out, stick my foot off to the side to rotate me up and stop my rolling.

I start shooting without looking as I crawl my way up from the ground and dive into a building behind me.

I don't think I got any of them.

"He's by himself, cover the building, get some grenades in there!"

I run up the stairs and look for a back door or window, but there is nothing, only entrances and exits are where I entered.

"Snap" I mutter under my breath.

I check my waist belt for grenades and then grabbing nothing I realize I must have lost them somewhere.

I duck behind some counters in the building as grenades start detonating, tearing up the place.

"Do you think we…"

THKTHKTHKTHK

The voice was cut off mid-sentence by machine gun fire, yells and more gun fire were heard overlapping each other for a couple more seconds before it stopped.

"Here we go, got the flag! The radar was correct about it being here!"

I hear another voice call out, "Do you think the guys that grabbed the flag are still here?"

I crawl out from behind the counter that's now filled with shrapnel and walk out of the annihilated door way and see a group of 4 grey suited guys from my team, a couple of them were going through the equipment on the ground..

The noticed me immediately, and a tall roughly handsome who had some facial hair who I assume to be leading them stepped forward.

"Hey soldier, you the one who swiped the flag? The rest of your team still here?"

I grab a mag from the ground and reload my pistol as I responded saying, "No team with me, I traveled fast with light gear, grabbed the flag and got out of there, when I ran into these guys."

The man started laughing, "Well that's stupid of you, you need a team if you want to do well here, and we need to head out before the enemy tracks the flags signal here."

One of the other guys, a shorter thinner man grabbed the flag and strapped it to his very large bag on his back, and then pulled out a tablet, he looked at it for a second before pointing back the way I came.

"That's the best route, I'm picking up lots of enemies behind us in a deadlock with our team."

The leader nodded for a second and waved his hand forward and we started jogging onwards."

I set the book down and then laid back onto the bed.

I stared up at those dull yellow lights and thought about everything that had happened in this short little while, and my eyelids got heavy and I soon fell asleep.


End file.
